Goblet: C.4-1967

Titles

Goblet

Maker(s)

Glassmaker: Verzelini, Giacomo
Engraver: de Lysle, Anthony (Probably)

Entities

• Goblet
• Drinking glasses

Categories

• Glass

Description

Dark soda glass, blown, and diamond point engraved. Deep-sided rounded bowl; hollow ribbed knop; circular blown foot rising up in the middle. The bowl is decorated with a frieze of hounds, a stag and a unicorn, and decorated with three panels containing respectively the initials 'AT' and 'RT' and the date '1578' within a frieze of foliage. The high foot is engraved with a foliate design.

Notes

History note: Sir Hugh Dawson, Bart. from whom purchased through Delomosne & Sons, London

Legal notes

Purchased with the Beves, Marlay, and Glass Duplicates funds and with grant-in-aid from the Victoria and Albert Museum

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Bought (1967-04-27) by Dawson, Hugh, Sir

Dating

16th Century, Late
Elizabeth I
Production date: AD 1578 : dated. The glass might be slightly earlier than the engraving

Note

English glass technology in the sixteenth century was less advanced than on the Continent, and luxury drinking vessels of colourless glass known as cristallo were imported from Venice. Demand outstripped supply, and in 1567 Jean Carré from Antwerp set up a glasshouse in London to produce Venetian-style glass. By 1571 he had been joined by Giacomo Verzelini, a Venetian, who had worked in Antwerp for many years. On Carré's death in 1572, Verzelini took over the running of the glasshouse, and in 1574 was granted a patent giving him the sole right to make and sell Venetian-style glass for 21 years. Two year later he was granted denization, and remained in England for the rest of his life. This goblet is one of nine attributed to Verzelini's glasshouse on the basis of their diamond-point engraved decoration, which incorporates dates between 1577 and 1586. The deep bowl is engraved with a stag, a unicorn, and hounds, with cartouches below enclosing the owners' initials RT and AT entwined by lover's knots, and the date 1578. This was probably the work of Anthony de Lysle, a Frenchman recorded in London in 1583 as a 'graver in puter and glass'. Made in the glasshouse at the Crutched Friars, London.

School or Style

Renaissance